.........From EMF-L........

Somehow ... it does not surprise me to learn that the U.S. (also!!) is involved in this......guru......

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: sx3s1: Two US transmitters seized in Italy radio wave saga
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2001 09:07:06 EDT
From: Envoptions@aol.com
To: roy@emfguru.com

Two US transmitters seized in Italy radio wave saga

By Julia Hancock

ROME, April 13 (Reuters) - Italian state prosecutors sequestered two U.S. armed forces radio transmitters in Naples two weeks ago because of excessive radio radiation, a U.S Navy spokesman said on Friday.

"Two U.S. transmitters on the Camaldoli hill were shut down on a court order from a prosecutor two weeks ago," Lieutenant Fred Kuebler, Public Affairs Officer for U.S. Naval Support in the port city of Naples, told Reuters.

Kuebler said the transmitters, which broadcast on two frequencies, had been shut down because they threw out levels of radiation exceeding limits set by the Environment Ministry. But he argued the transmitters were within limits set by the Communications Ministry.

"We broadcast within the wider standards set by the Communications Ministry," Kuebler said. An appeal has already been lodged and a hearing had been set for April 18.

The transmitters are used for radio programming for U.S. armed forces personnel and have nothing to do with military communications.

Kuebler said an application had been lodged two years ago for permission to transfer the transmitters to a non-residential part of the Eremo dei Camaldoli area -- where the limits on radiation levels are higher -- but so far the go-ahead from the authorities had not yet been received.

The saga surrounding radio radiation -- dubbed "electrosmog" in Italy -- has received huge attention in Italy for weeks after Environment Minister Willer Bordon said he would pull the plug on Vatican Radio if it did not bring its emission levels down.

Prime Minister Giuliano Amato, however, overuled Bordon earlier this week and now Pope John Paul's radio station has until April 30 to conform to Italian law.

A cabinet spokesman said the government was confident Italy and the Vatican could find an accord by the end of the month through the work of a joint Vatican-Italian committee testing electromagnetic levels.

Vatican Radio, which broadcasts the Pope's speeches and events in 40 languages around the world, said it was satisfied with the cabinet's decision and would shut down its medium wave (AM) transmissions on the 1530 khz band for seven hours a day beginning on April 16, the day after Easter.

"That decision shows our concrete willingness to act and should calm people's concerns," Vatican Radio's director of programming Father Federico Lombardi said.

08:54 04-13-01

Copyright 2001 Reuters Limited.
Forwarded by Spark Burmaster
Environmental Options
Wisconsin, USA

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